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jgutwein's avatar
jgutwein
New member | Level 2
7 years ago
Solved

Really Slow Upload...only Dropbox

Hey All,

I'm moving over to Dropbox from GoogleDrive. I have Gigabit Fios (recent upload speed test 686.4mbps), but Dropbox is maxing out around 2,000kbps. I have 'don't limit upload' enabled. Any suggestions?

desktop
sync
upload
  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    7 years ago
    Hey there jgutwein,
     
    Syncing your files can take time if you have many/large files. Although your files may have been placed into the Dropbox folder, it doesn't mean the syncing has completed.
     
    When Dropbox syncs the files it starts with all of the folders, then uploads files from smallest to largest. For this reason, it may look like the folders are empty or incomplete if you look during the syncing process, but please be patient and don’t delete them if they haven't finished syncing.
     
    You can see the sync status by holding your mouse over the Dropbox icon that’s next to your desktop’s clock.
     
    Furthermore, please keep in mind that Dropbox can only upload and download as fast as your Internet service provider (ISP) allows. During an upload, the transfer speeds are also dependent upon how quickly your computer can process and compress the components of the files to make them available for upload.
     
    Although you can change the bandwidth limit manually to improve syncing, please bear in mind that setting it to Don't Limit or a higher number than your connection is capable of will likely cause all other Internet activity on your network to slow significantly.
     
    I know that this may not be the ideal response you were looking for, but I do hope it helped to some extent. In any case, let me know if you’re still having trouble with this or if you have any other questions. 

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  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    Hey there jgutwein,
     
    Syncing your files can take time if you have many/large files. Although your files may have been placed into the Dropbox folder, it doesn't mean the syncing has completed.
     
    When Dropbox syncs the files it starts with all of the folders, then uploads files from smallest to largest. For this reason, it may look like the folders are empty or incomplete if you look during the syncing process, but please be patient and don’t delete them if they haven't finished syncing.
     
    You can see the sync status by holding your mouse over the Dropbox icon that’s next to your desktop’s clock.
     
    Furthermore, please keep in mind that Dropbox can only upload and download as fast as your Internet service provider (ISP) allows. During an upload, the transfer speeds are also dependent upon how quickly your computer can process and compress the components of the files to make them available for upload.
     
    Although you can change the bandwidth limit manually to improve syncing, please bear in mind that setting it to Don't Limit or a higher number than your connection is capable of will likely cause all other Internet activity on your network to slow significantly.
     
    I know that this may not be the ideal response you were looking for, but I do hope it helped to some extent. In any case, let me know if you’re still having trouble with this or if you have any other questions. 
    • spapai's avatar
      spapai
      Explorer | Level 4
      6 years ago

      Hi Lusil,

      I am having a similar issue. Currently I am trying to upload 1 video file (~4GB). There is no other syncing currently happening with my Dropbox. I have a 100Mbps up/down connection through Verizon FiOS, and a SpeedTest result (using "Single", not "Multi") shows that I am getting the full bandwidth. Google Drive is also able to utilize the maximum bandwidth. As you can see from the attached image I put together, this is clearly a Dropbox, and not a network issue. This also happened yesterday, and nothing has changed in my network environment since the last time Dropbox was using my full upload bandwidth. Thanks for your help. (additionally, I was not able to add the image using your "link to picture" or "attach image" links. "An Unexpected Error has occurred" popped up above this textbox twice)

      • Lusil's avatar
        Lusil
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        6 years ago
        Hi spapai, thanks for the screenshot you included, definitely provides a better understanding of the behavior you’re experiencing. 
         
        As a first step, could you please clarify the following:
        • Are you uploading files and folders to both Dropbox and Google Drive at the same time?
        • Have you also changed the bandwidth limit to improve syncing for the Dropbox desktop app?
        Let me know what you find!
    • stayvon's avatar
      stayvon
      Explorer | Level 4
      2 years ago

      I am having the same exact issue as all these people with the same fast internet that works well with everything else but dropbox.  Is there a solution to this now that it's a few years later?  Very problematic for me trying to send files.  

       

      Telling me an hour still to upload 8GBs when I have speed tests showing over 100mb/s speed.

       

      Is this a dropbox server issue or do you throttle areas since someone seems to have had success using a vpn to get back to normal speeds?

      • Walter's avatar
        Walter
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        2 years ago

        Hey stayvon - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

         

        Could you please clarify if you're using the desktop app to upload your files or a web browser instead?

         

        Have you tried rebooting your computer and internet router since you first noticed this by the way? 

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    2 years ago

    Could you clarify your device's OS version and the version and status of the Dropbox desktop app installed there as well  stayvon?

     

    As for the browser, have you tried clearing its cache at all since you first noticed this or using another browser, preferably with no extensions or plugins running? 

    • stayvon's avatar
      stayvon
      Explorer | Level 4
      2 years ago

      Clearing cache does nothing to help.  I'm on both a Mac laptop M2 OS 13.6.1 and Intel Mac desktop OS 13.3.1

       

      I had sync come back to being good for a few days and even earlier today and now I'm back to crazy long sync times saying 3-5 hours for something that would normally be minutes and my speed tests both from router and each device are fast.

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    2 years ago

    Hey jgutwein, I completely understand how frustrating this can be.

     

    Is it possible to test this with a different internet connection, to see if you get a different behavior?

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